Where Were You?

I was in my parents' car, driving between Houston and Austin.  My brother called my dad and told him to turn on the radio, that we might ought to turn around and go home.  We turned on the radio and listened in disbelief to the stories being pieced together.  We didn't turn around.  There was a new baby to meet and we were in need of something happy.

Five days earlier I had flown by myself from Paris to Houston in hopes of saying a final goodbye to my Grandma.  She met her Savior face-to-face while I was over the ocean.  That same day, my nephew was born.   My return ticket allowed time for a quick trip to see my sister's new baby.  So we arranged to go a day or so after the funeral.  It was September 11, 2001.

When we got to my sister's house, everyone was still in shock.  She had a 4-year-old running around and rightly didn't want to expose him much to the news reports, so we took intermittent glances.  What does it all mean?  I remember the confusion, the disbelief, and the very real panic of what it meant to me, with an ocean separating me from my husband.

J was sitting in a refugee center in Germany having tea with Muslims when the first reports starting coming in.  They were all very shocked, just like us, and horrified by the possibilities as well.  He went from the refugee center to a nearby electronics store with a wall of televisions.  He and a co-worker tuned one of the smaller sets to CNN to hear the details in English.  He was so focused on the news that he didn't notice at first the local Germans who were slowly turning off every other television so that the two Americans could hear.

I was anxious to get back to the man I call home.  My family was not so eager for me to get on a plane.  Neither was the government.  I was stuck in Texas for what felt like eternity, calling the airline every day to see if today was the day they would issue me a ticket and a departure date.  I don't remember how many weeks I waited, but eventually the planes started flying again and I was able to get on one of them for a very lonely, panicky, yet uneventful flight back to Europe and my beloved.

That day changed the world as a whole and each of us as individuals.  Only one thing remained constant--God.  He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.  As one of our co-workers in Europe would say, "It is September 11, 2011 and God is still on His throne."  He has and always will be sovereign, through the inexplicable, the horrific, and the unfathomable.  Many pointed to their faith on that day and many were urged to new faith.  Faith is trusting in His goodness and His promise of redemption amidst the evil that surrounds us.  And as our broken world deteriorates farther from Him, faith cries out, "Come, Lord Jesus, come!"  What a day that will be!!